I’ve typically always taken the winter months off from structured training and racing, dropping my volume, running just for fun but without following much of a training program. This year I decided to try something a little different.

Heading into my ‘off-season’ last fall after running the Grand to Grand Ultra, I decided to return to my road running roots and target the half-marathon distance instead.

What I learned was that running too fast can indeed make you slower, but that sometimes it’s necessary to take a step back before you can take two steps forward again.